Finders Keepers continue to forge a reputation of introducing a lost world of undiscovered vinyl artifacts from the annals of alternative pop history. Their latest is an incredible compilation: Strange Passion: Explorations in Irish Post Punk DIY & Electronic Music 1980-83 which features a compilation of rare, unheralded and unreleased Irish music that emerged after the first wave of punk and new wave bands.
A time when the raw primitive sounds of punk began to absorb new ideas and technologies and emerging acts were reaching audiences on an unprecedented scale thanks to new magazines such as Hot Press and Heat, RTE Radio 2 and it’s Fanning Sessions, as well as new youth magazine programmes on national TV like Anything Goes. Access to UK’s broadcasting and magazine cultural behemoths (Peel, NME, Morley etc.) as well as touring bands such as The Clash and PIL also played their part in creating an appetite for this thrilling new subculture and soon venues such as The Magnet, Dandelion and Project Arts Centre in Dublin and Kampus in Cork became significant live music hubs.
This was catalysed by new youth scenes which sprung up particularly in the main urban centres of Belfast, Derry, Dublin and Cork. Fuelled by boredom, antipathy towards society and inspired by the developing DIY scene in the UK, new bands, independent labels fanzines and creative art provocateurs began to emerge. Such was the rapid growth and creative freedom of this new culture that for a couple of years there seemed a constant stream of emerging acts producing work that was both original in content and presentation.
This release features extensive liner notes, rare photos with the full participation of the featured artists and bands.
Track Listing
Dogmatic Element – Just Friends
The Threat – High Cost Of Living
Chant! Chant! Chant! – Play Safe
Virgin Prunes – Twenty Tens (I’ve Been Smoking All Night Long)
Operating Theatre – Austrian
Stano – Town
The Peridots – No Water
Choice – Always In Danger
PH – Last Days
Major Thinkers – Avenue B
SM Corporation – Accentuate
SM Corporation – Fire From Above
Tripper Humane – Discoland
Operating Theatre – Eighties Rampwalk